16 December, 2014. A chilly & cloudy December morning as usual, my Maa turned on the tv to watch Pakistan’s news & me getting annoyed because I wanted to sleep little more on my day off. News anchors giving the news of ‘APS attack’ & I immediately got up and turned the volume on.
Blood is everywhere. Tears, screams, and agony was in the air. Death toll was reached to 30s as per the tickers & I was wholeheartedly praying, it’s all my dream...a horror dream. I changed my pray & asked God, if it isn’t a dream, the number of deaths shouldn’t increase even with one number. I’m crying, my family sobbing too. We all are quiet & have nothing to say. The pain sealed the lips. I was changing the channels again & again with a hope to see less number of deaths. Also, with very heavy heart convincing myself to accept this harsh tragedy that took so many lives of our innocent kids. My hope lost & accepted yet once again low lives & cowardly enemy has attacked. This time the target is hope & future of Pakistan. It’s a school with innocent angels living their dreams & studying to serve their homeland in future. All my feelings were frozen and tears were flowing...I had only one question in my mind, how can they massacre innocent kids? What their parents are going through? Reporters reporting, students were asked if they belong to army families’ & if the answer is ‘yes’ they are shot dead on the spot. Ya Allah!!!
Day is coming to its end, it’s evening and I’m still sitting in same position, frozen. The death toll has reached to 140. The burnt notebooks, the bags, shoes, watches, and other accessories of little angels were covered with their blood instead of the ink. What a horrible thing to see. I am always very optimistic when it comes to Pakistan. But that was the day, I was losing all my hopes. No God No No, this is not the Pakistan I want to see. This is not the Pakistan I fight for. But the next day, I felt, it’s the day when every single Pakistani is mourning in Pakistan and across the globe.
Through this traumatic day, I had to find something positive to boost my morals high....to not lose hopes.
And I found a reason....the unity....the unity, I witnessed in Pakistani nation on this one tragedy, made me regain my faith in Pakistan and Pakistanis. No wonders, why this nation is so resilient. No wonder why this nation is still standing on its feet after all the terrorism activities done by the foes of Pakistan. No wonder, why Pakistan is consider to be one strong & courageous nation.
Although, it is one of the wound that would never heal & it’s still as painful as it was on the day one. But this has taught us to always stay strong and stand together as a nation no matters how difficult the time is. This is the only way to fight back with this terrorism & enemies of Pakistan.
Even those angels had nothing but positivity to spread and patriotism through their posts and pictures on Facebook & quotes on their notebooks.
They wanted to see a prosperous Pakistan. They wanted to see a Pakistan that is flourishing.
Let the world know, we stand together through thins and thick, through rainy days and good sunny days.
Let the world know, the scars and emptiness left with each lost soul is still marked on our hearts and souls. But this hasn’t lost our hopes in Pakistan.
Let the world know, Pakistan was, us and always will be Zindabad.
Long live Pakistan. Long live.
ہمارا خوں بھی شامل ہے تزینِ گلستاں میں”
ہمیں بھی یاد رکھنا چمن میں جب بہار آۓ”
